The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that there has been "a lot of talk" about equitable distribution of vaccines in the world, against covid-19, but "very little" action.

"We don't want excuses, we don't want promises, we want vaccines," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as he spoke, via video message, in a debate hosted by Amnesty International on the sidelines of the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

The WHO official stressed that the organization was founded on the idea that health is a human right. "And yet here we are, in the middle of a pandemic and with millions of people without access to the vaccines that could bring an end to this global nightmare," he lamented.

"People are dying when they shouldn't be. There has been a lot of talk about equitable vaccination, but very little action," the leader criticized.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recalled that developed countries have promised to donate more than a billion doses of vaccines, but that far less than 25% of these doses have materialized, and promises to prioritize the Covax mechanism in less developed territories are not being fulfilled.

"The countries and companies that control the global supply of vaccines seem to think that the rest of the world should make do with leftovers," the doctor added.

In the same vein, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard left a call for action by governments and communities. "People are dying in front of our eyes," she said.

The secretary general criticized the pharmaceutical companies for not sharing the knowledge about vaccine design, prioritizing profit, while Covax does not have enough vaccines to distribute.

"Tens of thousands of people are dying every week. We are being complicit in a massive human rights violation," he argued, adding that the pandemic is far from over and that although everyone knows what the solution is, "everyone seems paralyzed."

Agnès Callamard urged governments and pharmaceutical companies to reverse "the scandal of inequality" of vaccine distribution in the world.

Amnesty International believes that states and pharmaceutical companies have abandoned their commitments to combat covid-19, and is campaigning to demand action from governments and companies, with citizen involvement.

Lusa Agency